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A Journal of African Studies UCLA Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies Title On a Marxian Approach to the Study of African Traditional Societites Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zt3n6cs Journal Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 4(2) ISSN 0041-5715 Author Tsomondo, Micah S. Publication Date 1973 DOI 10.5070/F742016443 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California - 57 - a~ 11£ NR.ICATIOO (f lHE MflRXIA~ aJ~(EJTIJil ~ TO lHE HISTORICAL STIJDY oF AFRICAN TRADI Tl ClW.. SOCIETI ES by MICAH S. TSOMONOO In our struggle again~European rule in Africa, we must take into account the fact that colonialism was not only ter­ ritorial but also mental. The geographical occupation of space in Africa had to be facilitated by the creation of a psychological disposition toward subjugation. Colonialism was therefore accompanied by a process of intellectual season­ ing, a point emphasized by Franz Fanon when he argues that to shouJ the tota'Litai'ian character> of coZoniaZ erpZoit­ ation the sett'Ler paints the native as a sort of quint­ essence of evH. Native society is not simp'Ly des­ cribed as a society Zacking in va'Lues ... The native is decl.a:J>ed insensibZe to ethics; he NpPesents not on'Ly the absence of values, but also the negation of vaZues . He is .. the enemy of vaZues, and in this sense he is the absoLute evil.. The prevalence of such concepts as "primitive", "pagan", "Dark Continent", "civilising mission", etc., shows the extent to which attempts were made to create within the African an infer­ iority complex which woul d sharply contrast with a parallel and contemporaneous superiority complex in the colonizer. On close examination, the European's denigration of the African's heritage will be found to have been based on the assumption of a monolithic unilinear, Euro-centric, and direc­ tional conception of human evolution. By initially maintaining that all mankind ought to have followed the same path of evolu­ tion, the European path, the colonizer put himself into the ideologically advantageous position of treating anything that was different as a deviation from the supposed universal norm of civilization. This "universalistic~ and Euro-centric inter­ pretation of human evolution put the African in a particularly vulnerable position inasmuch as we differ from the European in such respects as ethnic institutions, traditional non-Christian religions, patterns of property ownership, etc. Our communal - 58 - existence contr~sted very sharply with the European iqd1vidua­ listic conception of man and society. In this respect, it has to be understood that unless man'! history is conceived of as unilinear and directional, there can hardly be such a thing as a •backward" society. If, for example. histor1. is understood as multi -linear, then the U!nns "backward" and 'advanced• are applicable only to those socie­ ties that are following a common line of evolution. Britain could be thought of as "backward" or "advanced" 1f compared with her European neighbors only to the extent that one pre­ sumes that she shares a common line of evolution with other European peoples. Conversely. Nigeria could not be conceived of as "backward" or "advanced" in comparison with the European states insofar as she could not be presumed to be moving on the same line of evolution as the latter; and yet the same terms would be relevant if she were compared with other Africa1 states. In other words, in the context of a non-linear and non-directional conception of history, such tenns as "back­ ward", "advanced", and "primitive" are altogether meani ngless. From the preceding analysis it follows that the would-be anti-colonial African revolutionary had to adopt a strategy that struck at the intellectual foundations of the oppressive system; one that allowed his compatriots to win psychological liberation so that they could proceed to wage a physical struggle against the colonial administrators. He had to chal ­ lenge the Euro-centric and unilinear conception of history, (at least so far as an attempt was made to extend it to Africa: so as to de-activate such potent imperialist weapons as "uncivilized", "pagan" . "backward• , etc. By asserting histori· cal and cultural relativism, the nationalist saw our "differ­ ent-ness• as the essence of our non-backwardness. Hence the development of such concepts as •Negritude", "African Person­ a1 i ty". "African Socia 11 sm", etc. , which sought to cut off . our former opprobrious association with European civilization.' It is therefore not surprising to find that Leopold Senghor went so far as to argue that our process of cognition was biologically different from that of the Western world in that whereas the latter's is rational, the African's is intuitive.3 It is the object of this paper to argue that the psycho­ logical satisfaction and benefits we might have drawn from this radical assertion of our separate authenticity still need to be evaluated in the light of the actual African histor· cal reality. We further argue that while the struggle against colonialism immensely benefited from the emphasis on the distinctiveness of an African consciousness entirely unrelated to that of Europe, the post-revolutionary future of Africa - 59 - will equally benefit from a sober detection of those histori­ cal parallels and similarities which we may have ignored. The need to make some specific historical comparisons between Africa and Europe also arises from the fact that African societies did not differ equally from those of Europe in every respect. For example, the extent to which they may have been religiously different is not necessarily the same as that to which they differed politically. The one respect should not therefore mislead us to presume corresponding dif­ ferences in all other respects.' One area in which, in our revolt from European imperial­ ism, we may have thrown away the useful with the useless is the Marxist methodology of historical analysis and explanation. There is, however, no question whatever on my part that in spite of its claims to universalism, traditional Marxism (as distinguished from nationalised versions of it such as Lenin­ ism, Chinese or Cuban Marxism, French Socialism, Fabian Socialism, etc.) enunciated by Marx and Engels was essentially European in its origin and character and in its terms of reference. It was intended to swmmarise the developments of a supposedly Euro-centric world so as to forecast fts inescap­ able direction in the modern tecnhologfcal age. In this con­ text, Marxism sought to periodise European evolution into clearcut periods of history based on the dominant economic modes of production and the concomittant social relations they necessitated. It also attempted to relate institutions --social, political, and intellectual-- to the economic ma­ trix; it sought to expose the impact of the latter on the former, particularly with respect to the unequal distribution of political power in society. With respect to the modern era, Marxism attempted to forecast the final resolution o{ the conflict between the lx>urgeoi si e and the proletariat. We propose to show that even though Marxism is an intel­ lectual phenomenon that is essentially European in origin and character, some of its aspects are not entirely irrelevant to the study of African traditional societies. Specifically, this paper wi 11 attempt to argue that wh11e Marxist methodology cannot be applied in its entirety to Africa without doing a lot of violence to historical reality, neither can it be entirely excluded from the study of African traditional societies with­ out losing some considerable perspectives on African history. Furthermore, this paper does not argue that Marxism is the only European phenomenon which may have a degree of relevance to the stuQy of African societies. Quite the contrary, it recognizes that there may well be other approaches to European history and society which may be more or less relevant to the study of Africa. Because the paper is entirely comparative - 60 - rather than definitive. the reader will be presUDed to be thoroughly acquainted with the major trends of African h1s­ tor.y, ~t least from earliest times to 1900 A. D. A similar familiarity with European history in general and Marxism in particular will also be assumed. The term "African tradi­ tional societies" is here to be understood as referring only to those African communities that were or still are untar­ nished by European 'civilization.' With respect t o the Marxian method of hi stori graphy. we propose to dea 1 with two aspects: (a) The Marxist Linear Dialectics and Historical Periodization; and (b) The Concept of the Materialist Foundations of History. On the Application of Marxist Linear Dialectics and Historical Periodization to the Study of African Traditional Societies. The present study denies the applicability of Harxist linear dialectics and historical periodization to African traditional societies. By dialectics is meant the process of contradictory tension inherent in the physical structure of matter itself which brings about change in quality through a redisposition of the component properties without the importa­ tion of additional or different quanta.5 Marx and Engels extended the applicability of the process not only to biologi­ cal evolution,but also to social phenomena so as to imply that change in society is itself a product of the tensions inherent in the latter. This is how it became known as historical mat­ erialism, meaning that the process which accounts for qualita­ tive evolution in matter also accounts for social revolutions in history. While we do not challenge the use of such terms as dia­ lectical or historical materialism, we question the Marxist assumption that the consequent social changes necessarily pro­ duce a linear process of historical evolution from the simp­ lest forms of society to the most complex, corresponding to an evolution from barbarism via primitive communism.
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